In October 2005 the City Council asked the Community Arts Commission to commission a design for a city flag. An amount of $1,000 from the Community Redevelopment Agency was designated for this project.

The Community Arts Commission decided to hold a City Flag Contest in which the Commission would solicit designs for the City Flag from the community. The contest began in January 2006 and ended May 31, 2006. The Community Arts Commission received a total of eight entries for the City Flag Contest.

The attached design, created by resident Hugh Von Delden, was selected as the winner of the City Flag Contest by the Community Arts Commission and approved by the Community Redevelopment Agency for production. CLICK HERE to view the winning flag design.

ABOUT THE CONTEST WINNER - Hugh von Delden
A man who has ìdabbledî in designing flyers and logos all of his adult life has won the city flag design contest. Hugh von Delden, a retired mechanical engineer at JPL and a Sierra Madre resident for over three decades, said of the honor: ìItís one of the greatest accomplishments of all the things Iíve done...one of the neatest, most memorable things. Iím really honored.î

Hugh was the cognizant engineer of temperature control hardware for interplanetary spacecraft on 9 projects, starting with Mariner 4 in 1964 to the Cassini spacecraft. He was inducted into the Space Technology Hall of Fame in 1996 for his development of radiant barriers. Since his retirement in 1993 after 38 years at JPL, the Sierra Madrean and his wife, Pam Curtis, love to go camping (he is president of JPL Wheels camping club). He loves to water ski and snow ski. He lists as a hobby ìflying radio-controlled glidersî and says he ìdabblesî in model rockets. Hugh credits Bill Haines, ìa good friend for 56 years,î with transferring von Deldenís flag design into the computerized finished product.